Most questions about sexuality have their answers in religion; hence writers especially concerned with the culture of sexuality have looked to religion for understanding. The role of women in religion is important for understanding their place in society. This chapter examines women's religious significance and especially the role of women in Shona traditional religion in general and among the Budya of Mutoko in particular.

While some women have founded and led their own independent churches, other Christian women in both older and independent churches have also enjoyed fuller leadership opportunities in recent years. In older or mainstream churches, the Manyano (Xhosa for a prayer union) or Ruwadzano, the Shona equivalent, have provided a very distinctive outlet for Christian women’s spirituality in Southern Africa. This may be viewed as a remarkable effort by indigenous Christian women to appropriate the Christian message.

Ruwadzano was a white missionary attempt to shape the lives of African women and girls in Zimbabwe. The Ruwadzano movement was modelled on the Methodist women's prayer unions, called Manyanos in South Africa. Some of the reasons advanced for the rise of South African Manyanos are female reaction to male dominance, lay reaction to clerical dominance, and the reaction of blacks to white dominance (Hastings 1979:115). Brandel-Syrier describes the South African Manyanos as follows:

South African Manyanos are not only independent of the mother church but, according to Brandel-Syrier (1962:32), they run themselves. She cites a missionary's comment on South African Manyanos: